Nov. 19 (UPI) — A rare first edition copy of the U.S. Constitution has sold at auction for about $43 million — more than twice what it was expected to go for.
Sotheby’s auctioned the historical document on Thursday night. The winner submitted an anonymous bid, and outbid a group of thousands of cryptocurrency enthusiasts who’d crowdfunded a pot of money hoping to buy it.
The copy of the Constitution is one of just two that had a private owner, and one of only 13 first-run copies in existence. It was expected to sell for around $20 million.
The document was last sold in 1988 for $165,000.
Sotheby’s said the auction took only eight minutes.
Proceeds of the sale will benefit the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation, named after the last owner of the document, Howard Goldman.
ConstitutionDAO had committed to putting the document on public display and “in the hands of the people.”
